achieving an accurate response in an anechoic chamber is one thing, but once the speaker is in a room then things like dispersion patterns and baffle steps come into it more.

Designing a speaker to achieve accurate response in an anechoic chamber will not necessarily give you accurate response in the real world, so that would just be a case of incomplete design!

Eh..ok

Designing a speaker to achieve accurate response in an anechoic chamber will not necessarily give you accurate response in the real world, so that would just be a case of incomplete design!

I’m not an acoustic engineer, nor anything close, (although it’s an area I wish I’d known something about years ago and looked for a way into the industry), but I do actually understand what you mean. Like many things, how something works in a sterile, perfect test environment is clearly going to be a lot different to a ‘dirty’, imperfect, real-world working environment, with all of its awkward reflective and absorbing, flat and curved surfaces.

Designing a speaker to achieve accurate response in an anechoic chamber will not necessarily give you accurate response in the real world, so that would just be a case of incomplete design!

so how do you design for an accurate response in the real world then, accounting for every combination of floor covering, floor composition, wall composition, room size and shape, speaker positioning, stand height.

Basically you can’t cover all the bases, so in the real world no speaker is going to give a properly accurate response, there is always going to be compromise somewhere.

We’re not used to listening to sound in anechoic chambers so our brains are very accepting of non-flat response. What does cause problems are inconsistencies between the direct and reflected sound and failing to consider how boundary reinforcement increases the low frequency output.

Some of us consider it 😀

Some of us consider it

yes, and realise that speakers do not give accurate responses in the real world for the reasons stated.

Of course. But I was also alluding to a guilty love of deep, throbbing, liquid bass (when the mood strikes, the sub’s amplifier has its own volume control 😀 )

Seems the Tannoys are best suited to acoustic, chill out, piano etc. anything too busy or upbeat and the sound is a bit grating

I have that problems, but it’s the room.

Treble traps are not too big. Panels, hidden behind a print?

At that price point it’s best to be sure, I have some low end tannoys however (m1 bookshelf speakers and m3 floor standers) and they are brilliant, I have no reason to contemplate changing them unless they break.

I don’t have the floor standers plugged in, and I rarely plug in my paradigm active sub as the sheer volume.. it gets too much for my small living room.
I guess that means I don’t qualify as an audiophile haha.

I’m not sure how much this translates to the more expensive ones, but my cheap m3 floor standers NEED to have a sub, they are fantastic in the mid and trebble, but just don’t have any bass in terms of SPL punch and LF rumble.

The bookshelf m1 however seems to be great.. But i do sometimes hook the sub up if I want a blast.

I used to have F2’s, they were great 🙂

The bass on mine opened out after 10 hours or so.

I’ve found the bass does go really deep.
If it’s on the recording, they play it.

They also needed toeing in a bit more than you’d think.

Blutacking/sorbothaning them to granite chopping boards stopped the wooden floor joining in and properly formed up the bass too.

But if they’re just not doing it for you, I’d change them.
Life’s too short and it’s a lot of cash.

Thanks Rusty Spanner…yes the speakers are beginning to bed in, however I’m not sure I will get the warmth I’m looking for. Now trying to decide whether to mass load them or call it a day!

Bass seems a bit light, I’m not sure if this will improve once the speakers are run in; perhaps I will mass load them. Suffering a bit from new system syndrome I guess! Having run a sub sat system for years my ears may need to get retuned!

This could be more to do with the room than the speakers

Try either:
-Sitting in a different listening position
-Moving the speakers closer or further away from the front wall (the one behind your speakers if that makes sense)

Then do you notice any difference to the bass response?

Dmorts. Thanks yes tweaking the position and placing various items if soft furnishing around the room does help. I’m going to move the system into a different room at the weekend and see if that helps before I look at changing any components